It’s an unusually good year for tight ends in the draft. O.J. Howard will be selected in the first round, and he might be joined for a few others.

David Njoku might be selected in the first round. He looks like the latest in a long line of good tight ends at Miami. He’s got big hands, ran a 4.64 at the combine and can catch the ball – 46 catches and 8 TDs last year.

Evan Engram might catch a team’s eye. He ran a 4.42 at the combine, which is unusually fast for the position – almost as fast as Vernon Davis (chosen 6th after running a 4.38). At 6-foot-2 and 234 pounds, however, Engram needs to line up away from the line of scrimmage (it might be fairer to call him a wide receiver rather than a tight end). Think Jordan Reed or Delanie Walker (who aren’t as fast) and Engram showed some ability to maybe develop into that kind of a receiver last year at Mississippi, catching 65 passes and 8 TDs.

And there’s Jake Butt out of Michigan, who’s more of a traditional tight end – less athletic but the right size and more well-rounded. He looks like he’ll be a starter for a lot of years. If not for a torn ACL in their bowl game, he'd be a shoo-in to be selected in the top 40; the injury could push him down to the third round.

We might see three tight ends chosen in the first, and that’s happened only once in the last 30 years (with Jeremy Shockey, Jerramy Stevens and Daniel Graham in 2002).

With tight ends, however, they tend to take longer to adjust to the pro game (perhaps because they need to learn both route-running and blocking schemes).

In the last 30 years, 29 tight ends have been selected in the first round. Only four of those players caught 40-plus passes in their first year: Keith Jackson (81), Jeremy Shockey (74), Jermaine Gresham (52) and Dustin Keller (48). Only three caught more than 4 TDs: Eric Green (7), Jackson (6) and Heath Miller (6).

So while there will probably bee an impact tight end or two in this draft, the big numbers probably won’t come until future seasons:

ROOKIE NUMBERS OF FIRST-ROUND TIGHT ENDS
YearPlayerNoYdsAvgTD
1987Rod Bernstine, S.D.10767.61
1988Keith Jackson, Phil.8186910.76
1990Eric Green, Pitt.3438711.47
1992Johnny Mitchell, NYJ1621013.11
1992Derek Brown, NYG4317.80
1993Irv Smith, N.O.1618011.32
1995Kyle Brady, NYJ262529.72
1995Mark Bruener, Pitt.262389.23
1996Rickey Dudley, Oak.3438611.44
1997Tony Gonzalez, K.C.3336811.22
1997David LaFleur, Dall.181226.82
2000Bubba Franks, G.B.3436310.71
2000Anthony Becht, NYJ161449.02
2001Todd Heap, Balt.1620612.91
2002Jeremy Shockey, NYG7489412.12
2002Jerramy Stevens, Sea.262529.73
2002Daniel Graham, N.E.1515010.01
2003Dallas Clark, Ind.2934011.71
2004Kellen Winslow, Clev.55010.00
2004Benjamin Watson, N.E.2168.00
2005Heath Miller, Pitt.3945911.86
2006Vernon Davis, S.F.2026513.33
2006Marcedes Lewis, Jac.131269.71
2007Greg Olsen, Chi.3939110.02
2008Dustin Keller, NYJ4853511.13
2009Brandon Pettigrew, Det.3034611.52
2010Jermaine Gresham, Cin.524719.14
2013Tyler Eifert, Cin.3944511.42
2014Eric Ebron, Det.252489.91

—Ian Allan